My Personal ‘Faith Priorities’ for this Election by Jim Wallis

I am in no position to tell anyone what is “non-negotiable,” and neither is any Bishop or megachurch pastor, but let me tell you the “faith priorities” and values I will be voting on this year:

1. With more than 2,000 verses in the Bible about how we treat the poor and oppressed, I will examine the record, plans, policies, and promises made by the candidates on what they will do to overcome the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world. Such a central theme of the Bible simply cannot be ignored at election time, as too many Christians have done for years. And any solution to the economic crisis that simply bails out the rich, and even the middle class, but ignores those at the bottom should simply be unacceptable to people of faith.

2. From the biblical prophets to Jesus, there is, at least, a biblical presumption against war and the hope of beating our swords into instruments of peace. So I will choose the candidates who will be least likely to lead us into more disastrous wars and find better ways to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world and make us all safer. I will choose the candidates who seem to best understand that our security depends upon other people’s security (everyone having “their own vine and fig tree, so no one can make them afraid,” as the prophets say) more than upon how high we can build walls or a stockpile of weapons. Christians should never expect a pacifist president, but we can insist on one who views military force only as a very last resort, when all other diplomatic and economic measures have failed, and never as a preferred or habitual response to conflict.

3. “Choosing life” is a constant biblical theme, so I will choose candidates who have the most consistent ethic of life, addressing all the threats to human life and dignity that we face — not just one. 30,000 children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease is a life issue. The genocide in Darfur is a life issue. Health care is a life issue. War is a life issue. The death penalty is a life issue. And on abortion, I will choose candidates who have the best chance to pursue the practical and proven policies which could dramatically reduce the number of abortions in America and therefore save precious unborn lives, rather than those who simply repeat the polarized legal debates and “pro-choice” and “pro-life” mantras from either side.

4. God’s fragile creation is clearly under assault, and I will choose the candidates who will likely be most faithful in our care of the environment. In particular, I will choose the candidates who will most clearly take on the growing threat of climate change, and who have the strongest commitment to the conversion of our economy and way of life to a cleaner, safer, and more renewable energy future. And that choice could accomplish other key moral priorities like the redemption of a dangerous foreign policy built on Middle East oil dependence, and the great prospects of job creation and economic renewal from a new “green” economy built on more spiritual values of conservation, stewardship, sustainability, respect, responsibility, co-dependence, modesty, and even humility.

-snip
http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=3166

As it happens, Wallis has a more interesting explanation for why he doesn't like the term. He has lots of problems with his fellow liberals. He rails against "secular fundamentalists" and New Age gurus, hard-line pro-choicers and lefties who pursue "innocuous spiritualities" while attending "Zen/Christian retreats."

It's Wallis's critique of the secular left as well as the religious right that makes this such an important book. After toiling as an anti-poverty crusader and magazine editor for many years, Wallis hit his stride in the 2004 campaign by challenging the religious conservative monopoly on political God-talk. Now there is a debate over the nature and role of the religious left, and "God's Politics" is a seminal contribution to the timely discussion.

But those liberals expecting to find Al Franken with a clerical collar may be disappointed -- or challenged -- by Wallis's critique of the left. He firmly rejects the idea that Bush invokes religion too much. "From the Anti-Defamation League, to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, to the ACLU and some of the political Left's most religion-fearing publications, a cry of alarm has gone up in response to anyone who has the audacity to be religious in public. These secular skeptics often display an amazing lapse of historical memory when they suggest that religious language in politics is contrary to the 'American ideal.' The truth is just the opposite. . . . Many of the most progressive social movements in American history -- anti-slavery, women's suffrage, the fight for child labor laws and the civil rights movement -- had overt religious roots and motivations."

He also criticizes the antiwar activists for not showing enough concern about evil tyranny, Democratic Party officials for excluding anti-abortion views, anti-poverty activists for denying the ruinous role of family breakdown and civil libertarians for remaining mum about cultural pollution.

There are some serious divisions on the liberal side over social issues. White liberal Protestants, for example, tend to be for abortion rights and gay rights, while African Americans and Hispanics are more conservative on abortion and generally oppose gay marriage. Wallis, who personally opposes abortion and the gay marriage ban, seeks to bridge these gaps; for example, he suggests that both groups could support efforts to reduce the number of abortions not by legal restrictions but by policies aimed at preventing teen pregnancies -- a proposal that seems obvious and yet never quite happens because of the polarizing politics of abortion. In a way, Wallis's rhetoric ends up being less Jesse Jackson than President Bill Clinton. On nearly every issue, he triangulates a theologically grounded New Democrat philosophy.

He deals effectively with the left's failures on two of the defining moral issues of our time -- war and cultural decline. "It must be admitted that the peace movement sometimes does underestimate the problem of evil,'' he writes, "and in doing so weakens its authority and message." And his angry attacks on Hollywood for the sex and violence on TV would make William Bennett beam.